Selkirk’s Success at National Brass Band Finals

After ﬁnishing second in the Scottish Brass Bands Championship 3rd Section, Selkirk Silver Band were invited to partake in the National Finals in Cheltenham. This saw Selkirk High School students Hannah Kemp, Emma Jamieson and Joseph Milligan along with Brass instructor Colin Kemp travel down to the Championship Finals and play ‘Lake of the Moon’ by Kevin Houben in front of an attentive audience and two scrutinising adjudicators.

After months of hard practice, the band headed down to the English City, where they stayed for three days. Amongst preparation, both mental and physical, the band was well prepared to perform the technically challenging piece to a high standard, which was reﬂected in both the adjudicators notes and the ﬁnal result. The band achieved 10th place out of 19 bands in the third section, and ﬁnished as the highest placed Scottish band in the competition. This was an extremely admirable achievement for not only the band, but also the Selkirk High School pupils who took part.
The weekend truly reﬂected the capabilities of the small town of Selkirk and also the great success that High School pupils are capable of.